Present manufacturers are subject to a competitive drive to reduce manufacturing cost. This cost, in part, is dependent upon lead time and inventory reduction. Lead time is the time requirement, from time of ordering, to ship a product to the customer. Large lead times increase the amount of time a manufacturer's product is with the manufacturer. This, in turn, reduces the amount of sales a company receives per unit time resulting in increased overall manufacturing cost.
Inventory is basically the amount of material or components, otherwise known as supplier goods, which a manufacturer retains on-hand for manufacturing purposes. Retaining a large inventory increases carrying cost which results in an overall increase in manufacturing cost. However, large inventories ensure that a manufacturer retains enough supplier goods for assembly. Contrarily, if a manufacturer does not have sufficient goods for assembly, the manufacturer may be forced to sit idle while awaiting a shipment from a supplier. This also results in an increase in lead time and manufacturing cost. A very common situation where a manufacturer is forced to sit idle occurs where a shipment of supplier goods is late in arriving to the manufacturer. To protect themselves from this situation, manufacturers typically retain a certain amount of buffer inventory to keep from running out of supplier goods. This buffer inventory is a predetermined amount of supplier goods above and beyond what the manufacturer actually needs during normal supplier delivery times. A manufacturer is, therefore, ensured that if a supplier shipment is late, the manufacturer can use the buffer inventory while awaiting supplier shipment. However, as discussed above, this buffer inventory increases inventory and corresponding manufacturing costs.
By accurately predicting the time which supplier goods are to arrive at the manufacturer, the buffer inventory and corresponding manufacturing costs can be reduced. As such, manufacturers have devised various material tracking systems to track supplier goods. More specifically, manufacturers have devised ways to track when shipments are to be delivered and the amount of and type of supplier goods which are contained in those shipments.
Suppliers issue a form to the manufacturer having supplier information. This supplier information usually includes the time and date of when material departed the supplier location. This information also usually includes the quantity and type of material being delivered. Manufacturers use this information to predict supplier delivery times by using the date and time of departure provided with the supplier information and combine it with a general knowledge of the time required to transport it from the supplier to the manufacturer. This combination is then used to determine an estimate of when the material is to arrive at the manufacturer.
While this method does provide an estimated time for receipt of material, the estimate provided is not very accurate. Typically, the date and time which the supplier lists on the supplier form is not the same date and time that the material actually leaves the supplier. This inaccuracy is sometimes due to suppliers not having accurate information relating to the actual departure times of the supplier goods. If a manufacturer uses this inaccurate information to estimate a time for arrival, the estimated time will be earlier than the actual time for arrival. As a result, manufacturers are then forced to rely on the buffer inventory to continue production. This results in manufacturers being required to, once again, carry an increased buffer inventory.
However, the carrier who transports the supplier goods provides information to the manufacturer which usually has accurate information relating to the actual time of departure. More specifically, the carrier who delivers the supplier goods issues a document to the manufacturer containing certain carrier information. This carrier information includes the source, destination and actual time the supplier goods depart the supplier. However, the carrier information usually does not include information specifically relating to the particular goods which the carrier is delivering. As such, the manufacturer can only determine that a shipment is departing from a supplier on a specific day and not what supplier goods are contained within the shipment from this information.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a method for associating the carrier information with the supplier information to obtain an accurate estimate of when supplier goods are to reach the manufacturer.